Thursday, October 20, 2016

The Third Trump versus Clinton Debate

I’ll limit myself to a few comments on important issues, and leave debates on the supreme court, the second amendment, gun rights and abortion to Americans.

It strikes me that the quality of this debate declined considerably over the second debate.

Hillary told lie after lie. Take her bizarre lie that her vision of open borders in the Americas was just about “energy” (?!).

Here is the full quotation of the relevant passages in her speech to Banco Itau from WikiLeaks:

“My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, some time in the future with energy that is as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere.” [05162013 Remarks to Banco Itau.doc, p. 28].”

“*Hillary Clinton Said We Have To Have A Concerted Plan To Increase Trade; We Have To Resist Protectionism And Other Kinds Of Barriers To Trade. *‘Secondly, I think we have to have a concerted plan to increase trade already under the current circumstances, you know, that Inter-American Development Bank figure is pretty surprising. There is so much more we can do, there is a lot of low hanging fruit but businesses on both sides have to make it a priority and it's not for governments to do but governments can either make it easy or make it hard and we have to resist, protectionism, other kinds of barriers to market access and to trade and I would like to see this get much more attention and be not just a policy for a year under president X or president Y but a consistent one.’ [05162013 Remarks to Banco Itau.doc, p. 32]”
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/927

Her concern with green energy is clearly just an additional point, and she really did say “open trade” and “open borders.” Hillary is a shameless liar.

This mad woman repeated her call for a no-fly-zone over Syria – a policy that could lead to nuclear war with Russia. Even though Trump sounded much more sane on Syria, I am afraid he sounds like he has been getting hawkish advice on Iran and Syria too. All in all, however, his call for trying to get along with Russia and not supporting Islamists in Syria makes him superior to Clinton on foreign policy, the most dangerous part of Clinton’s program.

Trump did seem more willing to put American boots back on the ground in Iraq to combat Daesh than Hillary in the last debate, which is worrying. While it doesn't have the ramifications of Hillary's no fly zone nonsense, Hillary wasn't wrong to point out boots on the ground in Iraq (distinct from special forces) could very easily serve as a catalyst to strengthen Daesh at a time when destroying them as a force in Iraq is a major possibility. The Management Of Savagery implies that this is precisely what Daesh wants:

"Work to expose the weakness of America’s centralized power by pushing it to abandon the media psychological war and the war by proxy until it fights directly."

With that said, even ignoring the war potential that could come from a No Fly Zone in Syria or Aleppo, such a move would clearly favor the Salafi Jihadists and strengthen their position in Syria. Preventing Daesh from getting a propaganda boost in Iraq might not count for much if they end up toppling Assad. Even if she's right on Iraq, she's still pushing for policies that will strengthen Daesh and other Jihadists.

It's aggravating that Trump still won't acknowledge that toppling Sadam Husayn in Iraq and then bringing 'democracy' to that country is what empowered Iran's position in the region. However, parsing his attacks on Hillary strengthening Iran shows that Trump is much more willing to acknowledge Iran's strength than Hillary. Trump's also correct to note that Iran has outsmarted the US every step of the way in the region since 9/11. Since Trump's willing to buck convention and work with the Russians, perhaps he could come around to realizing that the hostility between Iran and the US is untenable in the long term.

I agree. It was meh. Scott Adams didn't think it would have much impact on public opinion, but that Clinton slightly outscored Trump.

Trump missed some easy shots. Instead of winning a minor point that Putin outfoxed her in the ME when she brought up Syria, he should have accused her of starting a confrontation with a nuclear superpower in territory the West has no legal right to operate in, and because we object to Russia bombing our terrorists. Indeed, the civilian collateral damage, the fig leaf for the war drum pounding, will not be much different from when Mosul really kicks off.

Hillary and the others still haven't explained how toppling Assad will end the humanitarian crisis in Syria. I suppose it could end once the rebels massacre non-Sunni Muslims and expel the Christians to Lebanon. Trump wasn't wrong when he pointed out she doesn't know who the rebels are.

The fact that it's been 15 years since 9/11, and the US is now supporting militias in Syria that are favored by Al Qaeda, is a pretty solid indication of how horrible the US has handled the war on terror.